Holy Spirit Proceeding

Within the Trinity of God, How Can We Understand the Concept of the Holy Spirit Proceeding?

In Luke 3:21-22 we are told that, “Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon Him, and a Voice came out of heaven, Thou are My beloved Son; in Thee, I am well pleased. And in John 15:26 the Bible says, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.”

The concept of the Holy Spirit proceeding has been debated for many generations. Still, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father, but the beloved Son of God is One with the Father, so the Holy Spirit also becomes the Spirit of both. But from the beginning, the Holy Spirit is from the Father since the Son was within the Father. Therefore, when discussing the Holy Spirit proceeding, we should think of proceeding from the Father and the Son because the Father and the begotten Son are two in One. That is why the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The proceeding here has two stages. The Son of God has also been since the beginning, but what we say here refers to the period after Jesus’ resurrection. When the beloved Son of God took human form, He was almost at the point of being cut off from the Father, but the beloved Son of God also was in two states at the same time: He is still with the Father, and also He is here on earth as a human. Because the human form itself is sinful, that is why we say that the Son of God was almost at the point of being cut off from the Father. The Bible says that the Father loves His beloved Son because He is willing to take the human form (John 3:31-35). Before the beloved Son of God came to earth, the Father and the Son were One as one unit together. But when the beloved Son of God was resurrected, He gave back the state that was almost apart from the Father and reunited to be complete One again with the Father. This state we talk about is breathing as a human; He has given up the need for breathing, and now His human and heavenly bodies are united and seated with the Father in heaven.

Read more BCF comments in Comments Luke 3:21-22 , Comments Matthew 3:13-17, Comments Mark 1:9-11, and John 3:31-34.